Sunday’s result, achieved with improvements to the single-seater, represented the best performance by the Swiss team in the last three years. Sauber, now in eighth place overall, surpasses Aston Martin and Alpine, owned by Renault.
This achievement marks Sauber’s return to the points zone, after Hülkenberg’s seventh place in the inaugural race of the season in Australia, held in March.
Hülkenberg surpassed the seven-time Ferrari world champion, Lewis Hamilton, securing fifth position.It was one of those Sundays when everything went really well.
Nico Hülkenberg
Hülkenberg has been the only Sauber driver to score points this season, while his teammate, the Brazilian rookie Gabriel Bortoleto, has yet to score points in nine races, finishing in 12th position. Sauber, which will become the official Audi team next year, is tied on 16 points with Aston Martin, but surpasses them in the standings. Alpine is in last position, five points behind.From the start, we were in the fight; a great start, a clean first lap, and we could immediately fight for points. Ironically, not having the best Saturday and saving a set of softs gave us a strategic advantage with the tire allocation. The safety car shook things up a bit, and having those fresh compounds turned out to be a golden ticket.
Nico Hülkenberg
